Massachusetts is a hotbed of innovation

I went to Boston for lunch yesterday. While I was waiting around at the airport, I read the Boston Globe. It contained articles that I would otherwise find in boing boing or other such sites, but rarely in a daily city rag. I think it's because innovation is part of the normal culture there. Richard Florida, you should look into this. We need more of this in Toronto.

One article was about a genius father and son team who have learned how to turn garbage into energy. And the technology is portable. Imagine taking a trailer from one company to another, pouring in their garbage, giving the company back its energy pellets, and then moving on to the next site. No garbage hauling, burning, burying, etc. required!

Another article was about facial recognition software, and all the things that it is teaching today's society about how we really recognize faces in our culture. Eyebrows are more important than eyes. Noses are the focal point. Angelina Jolie's mouth is as recognizable (to me) as Oprah's.

Stuff that goes on in that state on a regular daily basis is interesting to me. As compared to Toronto's Globe: Toronto had a blackout, the TTC has no money, York's grad students are (still) on strike (again), the airport is charging more taxes, etc.